Omollo: nearly 600 Homa Bay youth groups to get tools under capped grants
Key points
- Interior PS Raymond Omollo announced enterprise support for nearly 600 youth groups across Homa Bay County.
- Programme will supply practical tools, technical skills and capped maximum allocations after proposal evaluation.
- Verification teams may visit communities; support is framed as non-partisan for every young person in the county.
- Present: Governor Gladys Wanga, MPs Boyd Were, Joyce Bensuda, Peter Kaluma and RC Onesmus Kyatha.
“We do not have unlimited time or resources. We must therefore work within clear guidelines and ensure that the available support benefits as many genuine groups as possible,” Interior Principal Secretary Raymond Omollo told youth leaders representing nearly 600 groups from across Homa Bay County, Eastleigh Voice reported — a quote that set the tone for a capped, rules-based enterprise push rather than open-ended handouts.
The government plans to equip those groups with practical tools, strengthen technical skills and expand small-scale business support so young people can build sustainable livelihoods. Omollo linked the economic package to broader youth challenges, arguing that security agencies, administrators and youth leaders must work together because enforcement alone cannot solve unemployment and vulnerability to political violence or crime.
How the money and kit will move
Officials said the programme will run under defined maximum allocations for each group. Proposals will be evaluated before equipment and other resources are released. Verification teams may visit communities where necessary to confirm that listed groups exist and that stated needs match reality on the ground — a safeguard against ghost lists that have dogged past youth funds nationally.
“This initiative is for every young person in Homa Bay. Political differences must never divide our youth or prevent them from benefiting from development opportunities,” Omollo said, stressing non-partisan access. He added that the objective is a practical starting point for businesses and jobs, not temporary relief. On mobilisation ahead of next year’s general elections, he called on security agencies to enforce the law fairly while treating young people with dignity: “Our administration, security agencies and youth leaders must operate as one team.”
Also present were Homa Bay Governor Gladys Wanga, Kasipul MP Boyd Were, Woman Representative Joyce Bensuda, Homa Bay Town MP Peter Kaluma and Nyanza Regional Commissioner Onesmus Kyatha, among other leaders. National desk: Kenya News. Verified: ~600 groups, Omollo quotes on guidelines and non-partisanship, tools/skills framing, verification visits, capped allocations, attendance list. Per-group shilling ceilings and tender timelines were not published in the report; county and national circulars will define operational detail.
Youth organisers should keep membership registers, bank or mobile-money details and simple business plans ready for evaluators. County political actors will be judged on whether kit reaches wards evenly or clusters around friendly networks — the non-partisan pledge Omollo made is only as strong as the verification trail that follows.
Based on Eastleigh Voice reporting of Omollo’s Homa Bay meeting. Programme guidelines and allocation schedules from implementing agencies control final entitlements.
